CT-9904 was annoyed. Annoyed was the only word he could come up with to describe how he felt, but he thought there must be a better term. If only his head would stop hurting.

He felt sick in his bones. They were cold and aching, and more than once he'd twitched, unable to maintain rigidity as the others treated him.

To his left, CT-9902 was wrapping thick gauze around his leg, and on the right, CT-9905 held a blinking scanner over his torso.

They have names a voice inside his head whispered. A different voice than the cold mechanical one he'd heard so often.

But, no. CT-9904 would call them by their designations. They were clones, soldiers of the Republi-... Empire...meant to serve...unswerving loyalty...

His head twinged so sharply he hissed through his teeth and tossed his head back on the table he was lying on. A hand touched his forehead.

"Crosshair?"

That only made his headache worse. Cross-... CT-9904 fought down the urge to attack them. Not yet.

CT-9902's booming voice almost made him reconsider.

"Ya think he got hit when he tried to get off the platform?"

"Most likely," said CT-9905. "He is behaving less like himself than before. At least he could communicate semi-rationally. Now, however... It is just like when we...when he stayed on Kamino the first time."

The sound of boots entering the hold brought CT-9904 struggling upright. He knew those steps. They were more than dangerous.

Panic spurted through his stomach, and once more, hands were pushing him gently, but firmly to lie back down on the table.

At least they weren't rough like the droids. They seemed...familiar somehow.

Of course they are, the different voice said. They're your brother's.

CT-9904 refused to even acknowledge the voice. It was irritating, often snide, and was the whole reason for his monstrous headaches.

The footsteps continued to approach. Soft and steady...

Stealthy...

...like they had before, the night Crosshair refused help...

Angry...

Not with me...the Kaminoans... Kleal Selri...

Another sharp needle in his brain, and the memories that swirled on the edge of his consciousness swept over him. He felt as if he were drowning. But it was better than the steel emptiness that had filtered through his head.

Again, a hand touched his face, and he felt something settle across his forehead. It was a wide metallic band, and it buzzed incessantly.

Danger...!

He'd fought it before, he could fight it now...

Good...soldiers...follow - orders...

The system has been corrupted. Terminate -

Get out of me!

He was jerking and he couldn't stop. That ridiculous inner voice had to be stopped. The Empire would not accept units unfit for duty and the rigors demanded of them in -

"Tech! What's happening?"

"I don't understand, Hunter! It's similar to when Wrecker's chip responded to the brain scan, only...there is nothing there!"

Good soldiers...follow...

Terminate the traitors.

No!

They abandoned the mission and deserted their unit...

That's not why I didn't go back!

The pressure in his brain mounted to an unbearable intensity, and someone was shouting, further irritating his ringing ears.

...CT-9904

Crosshair...!

01100011 01110100 9904*...

No!

Good soldiers 0110011 01101111 01101100 01101100 01101111 01110111 orders ...

Termi - 01101110 - a - 01110100 01100101 comman - 0110100

01100111 01101111 01101111 01100100 - 01110011 01101111 01101100 0110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01110011 - 01100110 01101111 01101100 01101100 01101111 01110111 - 01101111 01110010 01100100 01100101 01110010 01110011

01110100 01100101 01110010 01101101 01101001 01101110 01000001 01110100 01100101 - 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01000001 01101110 0110100

C- T- 9904

01100011 01110100 1001 1001 0000 0100

01110100...

Terminated.

Omega lay on the soft matress of her bedroom floor. It had only been a few hours since they had found Crosshair and brought him back to the Marauder. Omega had a feeling Crosshair only came because he was unconscious.

She had only ever spoken to him a few times. The other Batchers had been in the conversation for all but two of those times, and what Omega had seen of Crosshair was very intimidating and downright confusing.

He was sparing with words, but when he did speak, his words hit their mark. He stalked about with toothpicks and a perpetual frown, he was grumpy and rather unsociable.

Omega smoothed her blanket and thought, Maybe because he's hurting...?

A thought struck her, and she sat upright. It had been her persistance to bring Crosshair back that dragged him here, she would make him feel at home again. It had been her coming into the team that had made Crosshair lonely, she would be his friend. It had been Omega who had stepped into Clone Force 99's lives, she would make sure none of them suffered for it.

Omega rocked slightly back and forth as she thought. She still didn't understand why Crosshair seemed to hate the others so much.

Before she met them, when she had been living in Nala Se's private labratory with only the Kaminoan scientist and AZ for company, Omega had looked into and accessed all the records and holos of Clone Force 99 that she could.

Crosshair had stuck out instantly to her because he... It seemed he was always so focused on the others that he never had time for himself. When she had seen him alone on recordings of solo exercises or security feeds, his responses to external incidents or his surroundings in situations that didn't pose a threat were very minimal. Sometimes there were none at all.

Omega shuffled forward and picked Trooper off the commlink. Lula tipped over onto it as if determined to obscure the precious device from view. The tooka doll had landed precariously on the commlink, but Omega let her stay if only to make her feel better. She imagined Lula to be something like Wrecker - when Wrecker wasn't yelling or blowing things up: interested in a lot of things, concerned with anything that concerned someone else, thoughtful and eager to help.

That had been Omega's first impression of Wrecker (once he had stopped yelling enough to have an actual conversation with the others), and she was glad her thoughts had been correct.

Wrecker seemed pretty much the same now, only a little sad.

Omega slowly rotated Trooper between her hands as she reflected on the others' reactions to Crosshair's return.

Hunter had been painfully obvious in his hurt. His face remained as usual, alternating between focused and intent, and softly amused. But his eyes bled out confusion and hurt. Omega didn't like it at all. She needed to discover the reason for all this if she was going to fix it.

Echo seemed distrustful of Crosshair, just as he had been when Crosshair was first separated from the rest of the Batch. Echo was the spotter as far as Omega was concerned. He kept a sharp eye out on everything, and if something came up, Omega was certain Echo wouldn't hesitate to slam it down in front of Hunter for assessment, silver tray and all.

Smiling to herself at the thought, Omega turned her mind towards Tech. He was curious about things like Omega was, which made him an ideal companion for long hyperspace flights. There was a lot of time on those trips to research different plants and wildlife the Bad Batch encountered on different planets.

Maybe Crosshair would like to hear about the missions Omega had been on!

Omega's smile faltered and she twisted Trooper's limbs about uneasily. Something told her talking to Crosshair about missions she'd been on with the others was a bad idea.

"What should I do, Trooper?" she whispered.

The trooper doll offered no suggestions.

Omega tossed her to the corner, and Lula was knocked off the comm device entirely by Trooper's flailing limbs.

Omega frowned. She needed someone to help her. She wasn't experienced enough to do anything to help Crosshair and the others. She was too little.

Straightening her skirt, Omega hopped to her knees and slipped down the ladder. Tech would be the one she'd ask for help.

So far, aside from his momentary hesitation, Tech didn't seem averse to Crosshair's being back with them. But Omega had seen things change before. People could change, too. And they had changed - but in a direction Omega felt wasn't right.

Tech's words about Crosshair to Wrecker in the underwater tunnel slipped again through Omega's mind. She shook her head irritably. This was all nonsense about people being a way they couldn't change or making decisions they wouldn't change. The others would see that Crosshair was their brother, and Crosshair would know for sure that neither he nor they could be really happy unless he stayed.

Omega set her mouth in a grim little line and ran over her thoughts once more. Decision made and confirmed, she started forward towards the hold.

Crosshair would have to change. She would make sure of it.